Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Friday, May 24, 2013

Hi everyone! I did't get to update for a while. I want you to look at these pictures.
The picture (left) shows the time I received a phone call notifying me that I finished my old job. (I didn't get fired. It was my rental house business, and one of the property was sold finally.)

The picture (right) shows the time I received an email regards to my new job. A new project for me to work on!

It was my son's birthday that day, and we had a busy weekend ahead. I wasn't sure if I could take on a project, but I didn't want to say no to my first project on this job. I was notified later that day that I won't be starting on the new project until Monday. Another miracle?

Everything seems to be falling ing into places lately, and I'm so happy about my new job and things that I'm learning from it.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

I drew this in 2010. I added the words using pixlr.com today. I remember thinking which way to take next. I felt something was missing from my life.

I found this notepad last week, and I had to have it. It was $2. I recently posted my language learning ABCs and "J" was Juggle in style. I thought this was really cute way to visualize that. The illustrator's (Bonnie Marcus) website is here.

I wish I could say that I'm getting better at juggling. In fact, I'm far away from juggling "in style". No way! I'm dropping everything everywhere, and if I were to drew myself of this month's schedule, I would be covered with the mountains of laundries! (The season change...)

For language learning, though, I think that's what it was missing 3 years ago. I always had a passion for languages. I just wasn't confident in using the languages. I still often wish my language skills are better, I know I have to work hard everyday to improve. I challenge myself each day to different tasks of learning. As I discover more about languages, I understand more about myself. It's really cool. So I can confidently say that I found my dream. It has been the same since as long as I can remember. I think I'm going to draw another picture of me chasing my dream!

These origami crafts are for L-chan's birthday party. I'm happy with how these modular boxes turned out. The texture of the paper I used was perfect for these boxes. You might want to check the link for more ideas. There are pictures of boxes that readers have posted.

I quickly made this crown too. It probably took me 5 minutes. I used scrapbook paper (cardboard paper) as instructed on here.

The room has been decorated, with a help from A-chan, The cake is frosted and A-chan has already set up the dinning table for dinner. We picked the flowers for the center piece. I can't wait to see what L-chan thinks of all these when she comes home!

I just heard "my mom's so stupid that she did..." jokes a couple of days ago. I feel like now I am the one to laugh at!

I will share 3 of my embarrassing moments.

1. I thought the picnic table signs are shrine signs. I first saw it on highway, I said to my husband, there is a shrine in Canada?? I was glad no one else heard me say it.

2. I always called a fly swatter a fly sweater. Again, probably the only person heard it was my husband.

3. I misunderstood chess pawns as chess ponds. Oops, I just published it (I edited it later) on my previous post. I wonder how many has seen it? On Facebook? Now I feel really embarrassed.

Now you can laugh at me. I promise I won't make these mistakes again!! But I'm sure I will make many more mistakes! Hope it will become less and less as I seriously learn to write better in English. (and practicing pronunciation should also help.)

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

I really felt good after reading this novel. I enjoyed it so much, because I could understand what the main charactor Shoko was going through. By saying this, I don't want you to think I have had the same experiences that she had, (the author says that some of the stories are of her mom's real stories) but I think I could have been her friend. I felt like this would be how my daughters would describe me and my life as when they grow up.

There were parts (very small parts) that talked about Mormons. I don't think that the author is a Mormon (a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and I didn't understand why she picked Shoko's husband to be a Mormon in this book. From what she described, it left me thinking he couldn't be a Mormon that I know... I don't know why he couldn't be as any Christian. Hmmm.

Other than that, from a book I picked up at a store for $5, and I didn't have any expectations other than read someone else's fictional experiences, I thought this book was very good. I got a lot of insights. If you already understand a lot has changed since the postwar era which this book is based on at the beginning, and know that there are stereotypes of both Japanese and American cultures, I think some of you might enjoy reading this book too. I'm already thinking to read more on this topic.

Japanese Children's day was on May 5th, and we had a fun time celebrating it over the weekend. I wrote about what Girl's day was like at my house in March, so I will write about what my boys did.

Kabuto display (upper left) was made by my teacher from elementary school. Koinobori (upper right) was made by L-chan. My kids' school is not a Japanese immersion school or anything, so when she brought home Koinobori, I was so happy that she was comfortable sharing her culture at school. (I went to talk a little bit about Boy's day with her class the week before.)

Koinobori on the lower left is the one we made at home while older kids are at school. I cut out eyes and scales and A-chan glued them on the carps. I used magnetic wreath hook to hang it, so the Koinobori can go up and down.

My parents sent my boys Japanese snacks from Japan. They specially ordered ahead those Koinobori themed snacks and sent the package to so we would get them on time. (The Girl's day snacks didn't get here in time for the party, but we still enjoyed them all) We really appreciated their thoughtfulness.

It's great that I can find many more post about this day on other's people's blogs. I found one about Koinobori song.

After I posted the picture of the Samurai helmets, I made more and were looking for the way to display them, and this is what I did. Helmet wearing chess pawns! (Chess happened to be my son's favorite game.)

As I looked for something to give to the boys, (well, I don't know if parents give something to kids on Children's day or not, but Girl's had a party, so I wanted my boys to have something to remember this day by) I picked the book that I knew K-kun wanted to read, but couldn't find what T-kun might like. When I saw this DVD of Ninja Turtles, I thought "Perfect!"

In this picture, (sorry it's blurry) the turtles are wearing the Samurai Helmets. I thought it was something Japanesey, and fun to watch on Boy's day weekend. I had never seen it. Many people (including my husband) said that they grew up watching Ninja Turtles. The next day of watching Ninja Turtles, we had pizza for lunch. T-kun said something like "how appropriate!"

I have a couple more pictures to update, but I will post this now. If you are a mom who celebrates Japanese festivals and celebration, I really recommend that you visit hiraganamama's blog. She has tons of links (very well researched, useful and cute) and you can read about her family celebrated them.

I hope you got a little taste of what we did for this year's Boy's day weekend. I have a couple more pictures to update, so please come back to visit again!